Answers, Part VIII

It looks like UCLA hired, yet again, a "promising asst coach with no HC experience" to lead one of its programs. After recent experiences with Toledo, Lavin and Dorrell, are you surprised that Guerrero hasn't learned from those outcomes?
Yes, Toledo was an utter failure with that 20-game winning streak and all. And I assume you are talking about Nikki Caldwell, the new women’s coach. Yes, because Lavin and Dorrell didn’t meet the expectations, it means every coach hired at UCLA should have prior head coaching experience? That, to me, is closed-minded and scared thinking.

Do you know if Coach Howland ever thought of redshirting Lorenzo Mata this past season? He barely played any minutes and they could really use him for this upcoming season.
I don’t think it was ever an issue. Although Mata-Real didn’t play many minutes, he did contribute in an important way in many games. He was backing up an all-American, after all.

I was wondering if you have any thoughts on the prior offensive staff's scouting abilities. It seems like the current staff is high on certain players who were not favored by the previous staff, namely, Pat Cowan and Ramirez. Is this because of the new offense/scheme, or do you think that the prior coaches were not utilizing players properly.
Part of Ramirez’s deal was he was behind Chris Markey and Kahlil Bell, so there wasn’t much room for him to play (although I often asked the coaches why he wasn’t getting more carries). In the case of Cowan, he played as much, if not more, than Ben Olson did the last two seasons.

Any update on the situation with Malcolm Thomas, potential transfer from Pepperdine?
Nothing yet. The staff is monitoring the situation, but the focus is on getting big guys who can help next season.

Do you feel that having the players climb the wall once was enough of a punishment?
I was expecting the players to be run ragged, but that didn't happen. However, with all the poor publicity it received, I think the message was received by the players.